We have all noticed the recent trend of actresses like Anna Faris and Toni Collette trying their hand at network TV. It seems to be the medium where women can work and play interesting characters. People have been trying to get Halle Berry to the small screen for years. Now it seems she is ready.
Berry will star in Steven Spielberg’s Extant, a summer series for CBS. The network has committed to a 13 episode straight to series order. She also signed a two-year first-look production deal with CBS Television Studios. The fact that the are booking Berry for a summer run shows that TV networks understand that they can’t have several months of reruns any longer. They must compete all times of the year.
CBS Entertainment president, Nina Tassler, commented on Berry’s new role.
Halle is the type of award-winning actress you dream of collaborating with for an event project such as Extant. Her talent and ability to immerse
herself into every performance has created memorable roles that have resonated with audiences everywhere. It’s a big coup for CBS to have Halle star in her
first television series, especially with such an exciting original concept and a role layered with mystery and humanity.
Berry will play an astronaut, who after spending a year in space, returns to reconnect with her family. The experiences her character faces lead to events that will change the course of history. Seems that female astronauts are all the rage with Gravity and now Extant.
Halle Berry also commented on taking on the new role.
I’m always on the lookout for amazing roles, and when you see material that contains this strong of auspices, nuance and complexity, it compels me to run
toward it no matter the medium. For five months a year I’ll get to live with and play this incredibly intelligent and vulnerable woman. And for the
remainder of the year, I’ll continue to look for other roles that move me as deeply as this one. I’ve found amazing partners in CBS’s Nina Tassler and Les Moonves, and the incredible Steven Spielberg, along with his Amblin production team, whose vision and creativity in storytelling is
unparalleled.
Berry isn’t a stranger to television, she previously starred in HBO’s Being Dorothy Dandridge and Oprah Winfrey’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. She received multiple award nominations for both including Emmy and Golden Globe noms.
